Re: Smashing Pumpkins U.S. Tour 2008/2009

Originally Posted by sexecutioner

i was considering buying tix for the sd show last minute, but still on the fence. some of those setlists look pretty good...

i really don't think it will sell out until this weekend...so if you are on the fence wait until the announcement...that should make it a little easier...the setlists are awesome though and RIMAC is tiny so the show should be good...

Re: Smashing Pumpkins U.S. Tour 2008/2009

Originally Posted by faxman75

Tickets for the December 7th Pumpkins show at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, IL are ON SALE NOW!

These are sure to sell out fast so buy yours today!

Okay.I just bought a pair of tixs for the Aragon show. I jumped on them because I thought tixmaster proly released a block of tixs.
I am now reading that the shows were bad and this particular show never
sold out. Should I be nervous?

Re: Smashing Pumpkins U.S. Tour 2008/2009

Just got back from tonight's show. I had a great time, they played for about 2 and a half hours, and I'd say this was better than the two times I saw them last year. I didn't recognize a good portion of the songs so I'm looking forward to seeing the setlist...

Re: Smashing Pumpkins U.S. Tour 2008/2009

Re: Smashing Pumpkins U.S. Tour 2008/2009

It was good, but it wasn't great. There was only one time I really felt that either show had a chance for greatness (Soma -> Cherub -> Zero -> Bodies), but the setlists were not solidly constructed from an energy standpoint. I am glad I went, but I can't say I was blown away, unfortunately. Hearing his complaining at the pre-show Q&A before night 1 left a bad taste in my mouth, as well.

With that said, I am extremely pleased I was able to finally hear Cupid de Locke, Bodies, and Galapagos. And it was great to hear Mayonaise and Age of Innocence again after 8 years.

Re: Smashing Pumpkins U.S. Tour 2008/2009

The Great Pumpkin Homecoming

If they fell on night one, dusted themselves off for night two, and started running again on night three, the Smashing Pumpkins soared three weeks later on night four of what has become The Great Pumpkin Homecoming. Maybe it was the intimate backdrop of the Aragon Ballroom, but the Pumpkins certainly felt like the Pumpkins again. The packed though not sold out crowd flooded the floor and terraces, clapping and cheering endlessly for their hometown heroes throughout the two and a half hour set.

No time was wasted and within ten minutes Corgan and co. were on stage. The gloomy carnival music resonated in the dark ballroom, where there was little to be seen, save for the teasing jack o’ lantern on stage. Fans roared and stomped, ready for some Pumpkins action, and that’s exactly what happened seconds after when the band ripped right into Mellon Collie’s classic single, “Tonight, Tonight”. Immediately, any hardcore Pumpkins fan knew that something was different, considering the band hasn’t typically been opening with this tune. This assumption was confirmed when Corgan continued without a moment to reflect, diving head on into hit after hit: “Tarantula” into “Stand Inside Your Love” into “Mayonaise” and immediately into “Today”.

Fans were brilliantly confused. After having been forewarned by every media outlet that this was a band who forgot about their hits, who neglected their audience, and who did their own thing, hearing a greatest hits medley was like a surprising left hook punch. Throughout every song, even during last year’s “Tarantula”, the Chicago audience reached high for the ceiling’s painted night sky, singing word for word, to which Corgan gave appreciation for following “Today.” Then came what most might have been dreading and few were salivating for: “Gossamer.”

The sustained jam adventure, which at one time lasted nearly forty minutes, was pretty tight and short this time around. However, Corgan still remained jovial, visibly enjoying the many riff riots at the end as he laughed about with rhythm guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Before anyone knew it, the distortion crawled away and Corgan was behind the acoustic, where he churned up residency favorite “99 Floors” and up and coming “Owata”, both of which had the audience in a daze. That hardly lasted, however, as the striped frontman slung on the ol’ electric and slunk into a hair raising performance of “Soma”, which inevitably brought up a new string of hits: “Cherub Rock”, “Zero”, and “Bodies.”

Finally, after almost two hours, drummer Jimmy Chamberlin broke his shell and came to life. That’s not to say he wasn’t “on” beforehand, he most certainly was, he just felt more subdued, so to speak. “United States”, the only other cut off Zeitgeist for the night, brought him into the foreground, where he kicked up a storm. Then came some more acoustic additions: the new crowd favorite “A Song for a Son”, Mellon Collie b-side “Medellia of the Gray Skies” and the newly penned “Communion”. As if to please those “angry bearded bloggers” as he stated, Corgan threw out an extra angsty rendition of “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, basically a prologue for “Superchrist” and the spacey-still unnecessary cover of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls to the Heart of the Sun.”

What was most endearing about the entire concert was the inclusion of Corgan’s half brother, Jesse Corgan. His half-brother, who has battled with mild cerebral palsy and Tourette’s syndrome, came on during “Set The Controls”, playing the tambourine and the tribal drums. It was a heart warming moment seeing the two Corgans having fun with the half a dozen instruments available to them, and this continued in what was quite possibly the best encore of the band’s recent career. A stormy “Ava Adore” subsided into a dead on cut of “1979″, all finishing with a tear jerking performance of “Disarm”, which Corgan played next to Jesse. When the band finished, everyone remained standing, applauding ’til their cold hands dried up and their coarse throats were itching for water. If anyone was still a “hater”, they might need to find a new band to admonish. The Pumpkins delivered ten fold and yet still remained true to their convictions… how quaint, huh?

Lick an orange, it tastes like an orange. Lick a pineapple, it tastes like a pineapple. Go ahead, try it. Try some more. The strawberries taste like strawberries. The snozzberries taste like snozzberries! We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams. Come along, come along.

Re: Smashing Pumpkins U.S. Tour 2008/2009

Billy Corgan has a SHITLOAD more to rant about. sigh....

Billy Corgan dishes on the Smashing Pumpkins: The past is dead to me

Corgan: Our primary function now is to be a singles band, that drives Pumpkins Inc. through singles. We'll still be creative, but in a different form. We won't do shows like this anymore, where we try to draw a good crowd and balance the past with the present. We'll go small and do exactly what we want to do and stop playing catalogue. We'll be like a new band that can't rely on old gimmicks. I'm not stupid. I want people to feel good about what we do. What we weren't getting [from playing a more balanced show with older songs] was excitement. We're in the polarizing business. We don't want a pat on the back: Good to have you back. We want a reaction, even if it's a negative reaction.

That's just one of the quotes the ENTIRE interview with Greg Kot of the Tribune and Sound Opinions is here.